Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
Chapter 69: The Cursed Girl
"Pervert…" Lyra muttered again while giving him a nasty look.
Harry put his fork down. He has yet to take a single bite of the roasted chicken that Mipsy has prepared for lunch.
"I already told you it was an accident."
"Pervert," Astoria said, although she didn't seem to care a bit and was most likely repeating what Lyra was doing.
Ginny had yet to say a single word. Her face was almost as red as her hair and she refused to look up from her plate.
"Mommy, what a pervert?" Holly asked innocently.
"Well, that's…that's a thing that you call the…Lyra, stop calling your brother that!"
Lily glanced at her daughter with a stern expression.
"But mom!, he saw us!" Lyra huffed.
"Calm down already, Lyra. I'm sure your brother didn't get to see much. And besides, you girls can relax, you have little to show yet. Give it a few more years."
Lily then noticed the curious look that Holly was giving her and she knew the girl was about to start asking questions she did not want to answer…for a few more years at least.
"Don't ask me anything and you can have extra dessert."
"Yesss!" Holly celebrated with a happy face and went back to her food.
"Mom!, how can you say that?." Lyra looked down at her small chest.
"It is already growing…" She mumbled.
Astoria looked down and placed her hands on her completely flat chest.
"Mmm…"
"Can we talk about something else? please…" Begged Ginny.
"Fine!." Lyra was also tired of this conversation. "I'll let this one go, just this one time. Don't do it again!." Lyra told Harry while trying to imitate her mother's stern look.
"You are most kind, my lady." Harry noticed her lips forming a smile for a short second before she hid it away and returned to her frown.
He knew she wasn't truly angry with him and she understood the whole thing was an accident. But in a way, maybe she missed being angry at him, who knows?
He can't claim to truly understand this sister of his, yet.
Astoria just stared at him as usual before she began eating her food. And Ginny looked more embarrassed about the conversation than angry about what happened. Living in a small house with six brothers and two bathrooms, this was probably not the first time someone had walked on her while taking a bath.
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With lunch finally over, Harry went for some much-needed peace and quiet to the library.
He read another old tome that gave him a bit of an insight into some of the oldest wizard families.
After relaxing for a few hours and drinking some tea, he felt much better, but also needed to stretch his legs for a bit.
Harry walked into the inner garden and spotted Astoria sitting by herself on one of the stone benches beneath a big apple tree.
As he walked, Harry was able to spot several figures in the air. At first, he only saw Lyra and Ginny flying on their respective brooms and wondered why his mother left them to fly alone but then, he saw a third person hovering close by, it was his father. He must have returned while he was in the library.
Harry looked back at Astoria. The little girl seemed distracted while reading some small book and failed to notice his approach.
He decided to get closer and say something to the girl.
"Good evening, Astoria. Can I sit here?" The bench was big enough for five people to sit comfortably.
She lifted her face from her book to look at him with her violet eyes and gave him her usual nod.
If she was displeased by his presence, she didn't show it in any way. It was impossible to read that girl.
He sat down, leaving ample space between them to not make her uncomfortable.
"Why aren't you flying with them?." Harry asked. He knew it wasn't for lack of brooms as his father had an ample collection of them.
"Cant" Astoria answered.
Those were the first and only words she had said to him so far. Other than calling him a pervert, earlier that day, he preferred to ignore that.
"Cant?. Do you not know how to fly?, Because I'm sure my father will be delighted to teach you. Or perhaps there is another reason?"
She stared directly into his eyes.
"No magic." She said that and went back to her book.
'No magic?... that's impossible.' He was no sensor but he could clearly feel magic coming from her. She was no squib, of that he was one hundred percent sure.
'Could it be that?...' some type of curses would eat away at the user's magic. Maybe her reserves are so small that her own body prevents her from using any of them, as a form of defense mechanism to avoid magical exhaustion. This could mean that she doesn't have enough magic to lift the magical broom. But if she can't even do that, then attending Hogwarts is probably out of the question.
"Is because of your curse then."
For the first time, he got a reaction from her. Astoria quickly looked away from her book and stared at him.
He interpreted that as a surprise.
"You know about it... Daphne…"
"Your sister didn't tell me anything, Don't be mad at her." He said.
An intense stare.
She is waiting for an explanation, he noticed. Harry felt a hint of satisfaction at finally being able to understand her a little bit at least.
"There are rumors about your family having a generational curse. After meeting you… let's just say I made an educated guess. And you just confirmed that I was right."
She kept staring at him.
"Does Lyra know?"
She shook her head.
'Lyra was probably told that Astoria has some sort of illness that makes her like this…'
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about this without your consent."
She appears to think for a moment before nodding at him and going back to her reading.